Another mass update

The last time I wrote a proper update about my life was... well, a long time ago. So here is my list of grand accomplishments over the last few months:

• Still dating the same guy
• Still working at the same company
• Still living in the same apartment
• Still have the same roommate
• Still haven't found a dance partner for ballroom

Ok, fine, something more interesting.

• My work moved to a new office - it's really cool, come visit!
• I surprised my parents by showing up aat home unexpectedly one weekend in May - I was in Prague on business :)
• Over the summer, I went to Norway with my parents and Klara - was awesome
• My sister and her friend Verca came to visit me in New York for 3 weeks in the summer, saw The Producers (a musical)
• Went to Las Vegas with Vishy for Labor day - went to Grand Canyon, saw David Copperfield's show; won $2.17 in slot machines - if I don't count the $5 we lost...
• Partied back in New York with lots of awesome people from work and MIT
• -Took figure skating classes for most of the spring and summer - hopefully I'll get back to that very soon
• Went to Prague for a weekend for my dad's birthday party
• Amassed a reasonably sized liquor collection - still need a few items but progress is more than satisfactory
• Reasonable progress on drinking said liquor collection, although there is room for improvement
• Hosted a random party, Vishy's birthday party, a dinner party and Thanksgiving dinner at my place
• Rented a car with Vishy and went to upstate New York to see fall foliage
• Saw a Shakespeare play in Central Park
• Saw a play about Indian mahematician Ramanujan
• Saw an improv commedy show and a poetry slam - thanks, Chow!
• Started reading books in Borders like Andreea (Though I'm still staying away from the romance novels section)
• Started doing my own manicure on a mostly regular basis - bye bye, nail biting!
• Started plucking my eyebrows (who knew it was so labour-intensive??), using face cream, wearing high heels and looking through fasion magazines
• Not sure if the effect of the above are necessarily noticeable
• Went to MIT Open ballroom competition in May and did pretty well in silver smooth - thanks, Muyi!
• Almost killed my plants :( Poor things, no matter what I do they don't seem happy
• Decided to go to Prague 3-4 times a year, for shorter periods
• Realized that in the foreseeable future my biggest expense will always be flight tickets
• And in general, I've been enjoying life - perhaps even more now that I've left college!
  

Well, that's about it for now. You can look forward to hearing from me again in... well, a year?

What are YOU thankful for?

On Thursday it was Thanksgiving. This is a really nice American holiday in that it involves good food and a very nice, peaceful atmosphere - almost like Christmas in my country.
Me, Vishy and Andreea and Marek hosted a Thanksgiving dinner. It was really nice - Vishy made excellent pumpkin/butternut squash soup and beetroot malai kofta, Andreea made creme brulee and cabbage salad and I made some stuffing (Czech recipe). For meat we had stuffed cornish hens, prepared by our local grocery store.
Before eating main course we went around the table, each of us saying what we are thankful for. It's a bit of a cheesy thing to do, but I think it's a nice way to force ourselves to remember that we've all been really fortunate in life so far.

Manicure

"I think I'm going to do my manicure now."
"Oh, is that like a cure for a man?"
"Nah, there's no cure for a man."

What pasta is your code?

This was a great lunch discussion. It went something like this:
"Our code is basically spaghetti code, it sucks."
"Well, what should it be? Rigatoni, so it's more self-contained?"
"No, rigatoni has too many holes. How about lasagna, a layered design?"
"No, I think gnocchi would be better - very modular."
"Or tortellini - modular with very good wrappers providing data protection."
"Or farfalle - modular with clearly defined interfaces that fit right into each other."
"Well, as long as it isn't cappelli (angel-hair pasta) - a shapeless mess with all sorts of loose ends sticking out..."